The Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts (FAA) at Chulalongkorn University and the Republic Polytechnic, School of Technology for the Arts (RP), Singapore signed an MOU on 27 March 2024 to collaborate in order to facilitate country, cultural, cognitive, social and emotional engagements amongst youths via staff-students exchange programs. FAA Dean Professor Dr Kumkom Pornprasit and Dr Terence Chong, Diector, International Relations, RP signed the document at a ceremony at FAA.
The exchange programme refers to Temasek Foundation Specialists’ Community Action and Leadership Exchange Programme 2024-2025 (or TF SCALE X), which extended an invitation to FAA to work on what is referred to as a “structured immersion programme”.
The MOU between the two educational institutes states that each party will select 20 student leaders and supervisory lecturers to be part of the exchange programme. The TF SCALE X programme includes, FAA, Universitas Islam Bandung (UNISBA), Bandung, Indonesia, University of Social Scinces nd Humanities (USSH) and RP.
For the agreement between FAA and RP, both institutions will exchange teams of 20 students leaders and supervisory lecturers for a two-week structured programme in September 2024. The programme runs for 18 months from the date of signing.
The programme was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic but has since been reactivated. The RP campus news site, The Republican Post, noted in a quote by RP’s International Relations Director Dr Terence Chong that each intake is different, “It never ceases to amaze me. Every time is different but I can feel the love,” he said in October 2022.
One participant in the last group meeting in Singapore for the four participating institutions explained why she joined the programme. “We volunteered to participate in this programme because it seemed like a great opportunity to go overseas and learn about the cultures in other countries.”